Abrégé

Optical communications networks rely on optical receivers to demodulate optical signals and convert the demodulated optical signal into an electrical signal. Optical receivers may be associated with one or more characteristics which can be made to vary during a transmission of an optical signal in order to improve the quality of the received signal. The present invention may determine a value for the characteristics based on an amount of optical filtering on a communications link which transmits the signal. The value for the characteristics of the receiver may be determined by observing a characteristic of a detector associated with the receiver, such as a ratio of the average photocurrents of the constructive and destructive ports of the detector. The observed characteristic of the detector may be mapped to a predetermined value for the characteristic of the receiver in a lookup table, which may be queried during operation of the receiver.

Classes IPC  ?

• H04B 10/00 - Systèmes de transmission utilisant des ondes électromagnétiques autres que les ondes hertziennes, p. ex. les infrarouges, la lumière visible ou ultraviolette, ou utilisant des radiations corpusculaires, p. ex. les communications quantiques

Abrégé

The present application describes methods and systems that improve the optical signal to noise ratio performance of an optical network without the need to vary the free spectral range associated with a differential interferometer. This is achieved by varying an electrical bandwidth of an electronic device associated with the receiver. For example, the electrical bandwidth may vary in inverse proportion to the combined effective optical bandwidth of the transmission line carrying the optical signal. The techniques described herein a applicable to a wide variety of modulation formats, including mPSK, DPSK, DmPSK, PDmPSK, mQAM, ODB, and other direct-detection formats. Using the techniques described herein, the optical signal to noise ratio and bit error ratio performance of the optical network is improved without the need to provide costly and complex differential interferometers whose free spectral range is variable.

Classes IPC  ?

• H04B 10/69 - Dispositions électriques dans le récepteur